When Love Ends For the First Time
by coffincoffee1
Summary: Arthur had never planned on falling in love with the energetic American named Alfred, it just kind of…happened. At first he had wanted nothing to do with him, but as the days past and through the persistence of the stubborn man, he began to grow fond of him.
1. Chapter 1

Arthur had never planned on falling in love with the energetic American named Alfred, it just kind of…happened. At first he had wanted nothing to do with him, but as the days past and through the persistence of the stubborn man, he began to grow fond of him. When he was gone, Arthur even found himself missing his presence. His smile seemed to brighten up any room and at one point Arthur thought that Alfred's smile could bring back the dead flowers that he had received sitting on his kitchen table in his small apartment in New York. Alfred's voice rang through his ears and although his enthusiasm could be the most agonizing thing in the world it could be refreshing when used at the right time and place. The only thing that England couldn't stand about him was the way that he made him feel…

* * *

When England had first moved to America he was sixteen. His parent's had a job offer they couldn't refuse. It paid high, had benefits and was able to support the family. Compared to what they had in London, this was heaven, but not for Arthur. He missed his old friends and it hurt all the more when they hadn't got in contact or even tried to communicate with Arthur. He also missed heir old small but cozy house on the outskirts of the city, and his loving grandmother that told the most amazing tales. Even if he was sixteen Arthur loved to hear the fantasies of knights and dragons and witches and wizards. Shortly after they had moved she had died of a heart attack.

When Arthur and his parents first moved to New York he began getting depressed. His wardrobe changed, his attitude changed, and by the time he was nineteen his life changed. He had gotten into alcohol and drugs soon after his family had gotten settled into their new house. Arthur had only wanted to have someone to depend on considering his parents were gone to work most of the time. He didn't realize at the time the people he considered his "friends" were only using him. He was bullied at first, but once he had agreed to try cigarettes he was accepted as part of the popular community. Then came alcohol at a party and after that he pushed it too far by trying meth in the bathroom of his high school at age seventeen. By the time his parents found out it was already too late, he was addicted. He hadn't been using it for too long, only a few months, but that was enough. They had tried getting him to rehab but that didn't work. Arthur moved out as soon as he was eighteen and his life only got worse from there, until he had met a French immigrant by the name of Frances Bonnefoy.

The Frenchman had changed his life. With his help Arthur managed to get off of the drugs with and soon he began feeling less like the world hated him. His attitude and outlook on life became brighter and he found himself happier then he had ever been. They had both fallen in love with each other and soon Arthur only had a minor alcohol problem. They had been together for about two and a half years until Frances broke his heart into a million pieces.

It was a spring day when Arthur found out that Frances had been cheating on him with not only one, but three people. The person he had trusted for over two years had completely betrayed him in the worst way possible. He hadn't denied it either, and that just made it seem all the more bitter. Arthur completely lost it on him and moved out within just two days. He found a small apartment quickly and with his own money he managed to get by. He didn't start up on any drugs again but since he had just turned twenty-one he was now legal to drink. After the brutal break-up he had drunk almost everyday, even getting fired from his job for being drunk on the job after about a month. After this he began to wake up from his depressed state and gradually stopped drinking so much, but not completely. He had found a new job that had actually paid higher then his previous one and tried to leave Frances behind, which proved to be easier said then done. After another year the emotional scar was still with him and refused to grant him any peace. He was doing better for himself though, keeping up with his apartment with rent and other bills. He found a love for books and rekindled his passion with fantasy novels. He also found another love; cooking. However, no matter how much Arthur loved the culinary arts, it doesn't mean he was any good at it. That was just another reminder of how much the wound from Frances hurt, because he had made the best food that Arthur had ever tasted.


	2. A Chance Encounter

Arthur had just gotten off of work and was waiting in line at the grocery store to by more tea and some dinner for the night. As soon as he was out the door and on the street he thought he had slammed into a wall.

"Aw, shit! Sorry, didn't see you there buddy!" He looked up to a man with the bluest eyes he had ever seen. It was as if he was staring strait into the sky. The young mans features weren't that bad either with sandy blond hair and wire-rimmed glasses. Arthur found himself staring and mentally shook himself as he tore his gaze away, ignoring the hand that was offered to help him off of the ground.

"I know it's New York, but honestly, can't you watch where your going?!" Arthur picked himself up off of the ground in an annoyed fashion and grabbed the tea that fell out of his bag along with a bunch of other items.

"You have an accent! That's British, right?" The American asked curiously. Be fore Arthur even had time to respond he began helping to pick up his fallen items while going on a rant. "That's pretty awesome you know, I've always wanted to travel and if I had to pick a place it would probably be the UK 'cause it's still foreign and in Europe and stuff and they still speak English, and the last thing I need is a language barrier!" The man picked up some of Arthur's groceries and put them in the paper bag. "You see that's the thing, I want to travel to all of these places but everybody speaks all of these different languages and that's cool and all, but I don't think that I'll have enough time to learn all of them so I'm probably just going to end up playing cerades the rest of my life so I can communicate with people."

Arthur stared at him terrified. Most of his sentences had come out in one breath and he could really only understand half of what he was saying. "Well that's nice and all but-"

The American cut him off, much to the displeasure of Arthur. "I've got a friend named Kiku and he's Japanese so I could probably learn it from him but the first time he tried I ended up falling asleep on his floor…oh! By the way the names Alfred F. Jones! What's yours? I bet it something really fancy or some crap like that!"

Arthur's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "It's Arthur." He pronounced it as if saying it to a two-year-old. "Arthur Kirkland." He then took his bag from Alfred and turned to walk away.

"Hey, wait up! So when did you get here anyway? I bet it was only a couple years ago, your accent is pretty thick." The American caught up with him and was right beside him.

"Do you ever shut up?" Arthur asked rhetorically. Alfred didn't even twitch. "I take that as a…eh…I dunno." He then went for a completely different subject change. "Okay then, how old are you? Now that I think about it your pretty short, and you should trim your eyebrow, they're huge!"

Arthur gave him a death glare and stopped. "Who are you to question my personal information and insult me?! Not only that but your rather rude with cutting me off while I was trying to speak…a-and leave my eyebrows alone!" Arthur hurried at a faster pace in hope to get rid of Alfred, scowling at the sidewalk. "Why are you fallowing me anyway, don't you have anything else better to do?"

Alfred smiled and shook his head. "Nope! Just moved in the area, New York is awesome! Just came in from Massachusetts about two days ago, I gotta go this way anyway."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Marvelous, just my day." Alfred laughed, something that Arthur decided was going to get on his nerves. Fast. "Yep, now that you met me! I can make anybody's day just by being in their presence." Arthur added arrogant to the list of things he didn't like about Alfred. So far it was about one out of ten in just the short time he had met him.

Just then Arthur had arrived at his apartment building. He let out a sigh of relief and a faint smile managed to make it's way out of his lips. "Well thank you for helping me with my groceries and so graciously accompanying me here," He exclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm, " but I'm afraid that this is where we part."

Alfred let out another laugh. "Dude, no way! I just moved into this same building! That's awesome, what room do you live in?"

Arthur visibly deflated. "Oh god…"

Alfred moved closer. "Hmmm, what did ya say?"

He shot him another glare. "I said it's none of your business you bloody fool!" He then stormed into the building and was soon fallowed after Alfred. Much to his annoyance, the young man went into the same elevator as him, humming all of the way, and even got off of the same floor, which was three. '_If this man is my lives next to me then I'm going to hang myself out of my window!'_ Arthur thought. The bastard had probably moved all of his stuff in when he was at work too.

As he neared his door Arthur found himself trying to get there as quickly as possible without running, which he was very tempted to do. He didn't even notice when Alfred stopped at his door. "Well, see you later." He said cheerfully reaching for his keys on his belt loop.

Arthur turned around. Alfred lived just two doors down. He tried reasoning with himself. '_At least it's better than being next to him_.' He began for his own apartment with an annoyed grunt as he turned around again, bringing out his own keys and walking into his apartment. He put his food away and began making himself some tea.

Arthur's apartment was rather dull and fairly small. When you first walked in there was a coat rack and umbrella stand underneath it. Walking in led him right into the living room. To the right was the kitchen with a half wall as its perimeter with a table that looked out to the street below. Parallel to the front door was the bedroom and right beside that was the bathroom. There was a door in his bedroom that also led into the bathroom. The apartment hardly had any decorations and his coffee table was probably the most decorated object in the house. It was a gift from his grandmother before he had left England and Arthur had taken it with him when he left. It was pinewood, darkly stained with a red tint, and had Celtic designs carved into the border and legs. It was worn and old, but it was probably one of Arthur's most prized possessions right beside the copy of "King Arthur" his parents had gotten him on his eighth birthday.

He sat down at the kitchen table, gazing out the window as the sun began to sink down below the tall set of buildings in front of him. He wasn't practically thrilled with meeting the overly energetic American named Alfred, and was actually very annoyed with him if that much wasn't obvious, but for a brief moment he thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing…


End file.
